Htin Kyaw tipped as NLD presidential nominee

[webfact]

Htin Kyaw tipped as NLD presidential nominee

YANGON: -- Htin Kyaw, an executive member of an Aung San Suu Kyi-led foundation, has been tipped as one of the presidential candidates to be submitted by the National League for Democracy (NLD) on Thursday, The Irrawaddy reported.

He is a senior executive with the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a non-profit health and education charity, named for Suu Kyi’s mother. There has been speculation about his nomination for the post since the NLD’s sweeping election victory in November of last year.

As the winning party, the NLD will make its presidential bids in Parliament on March 10. Aung San Suu Kyi, the party chairwoman, is constitutionally barred from the role by Article 59 (f), a clause that does not allow those with a foreign spouse or children to hold the presidency. Suu Kyi’s two sons hold British citizenship, as did her late husband.

There have been three meetings between Suu Kyi and Burma’s military leaders since the election, but the military was not willing to amend or suspend the law.

Although the NLD has since been tight-lipped on those recommended for the presidency, inside sources report that Htin Kyaw, a 70-year old Mon-Burmese Oxford graduate, is now high on the list.

Htin Kyaw, 70, is believed to one of The Lady’s right-hand men; within the NLD he has built a reputation as a man of honesty.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/154033

-- Thai PBS 2016-03-08

[webfact]

NLD names U Htin Kyaw for president



YANGON: -- The National League for Democracy under Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday named U Htin Kyaw as its candidate for the presidency in a session of the lower house, ending four months of uncertainty following the landslide election victory of the party, The Myanmar Times reported.

Since the NLD did not have an official profile of him, there was initial confusion whether U Htin Kyaw studied at Oxford University, and whether he had served as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s driver. Colleagues later clarified he had studied at the University of London for a period in 1972 and had only acted as an occasional driver for the party leader.

The military–backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which was crushed in last November’s elections, also put forward a candidate, although the current ruling party now only holds a handful of seats. Sai Mauk Kham, the current vice president, was nominated as the party’s lower house candidate, and U Khin Aung Myint, former speaker of the upper house, was expected to be named as its upper house candidate.

The two chambers are scheduled to vote Friday morning to select one candidate each.

Parliament’s bloc of appointed military MPs do not take part in those votes. Under the constitution, the military submits the name of its candidate directly to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the combined sitting of the two chambers which then votes to choose the president, first vice president and second vice president.

That vote is expected next week. Given the NLD’s parliamentary majority, the election of U Htin Kyaw as president is all but assured. President U Thein Sein’s five-year term ends on March 30.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/154618


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-11